


The Disappearance of Katie Holt

by GuardianMars



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-26 04:07:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7559464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianMars/pseuds/GuardianMars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Because at the end of the day, this is a tragedy. She’s had her whole life ripped apart on national television. Cameras following her every move… I mean, how do you grieve, let alone attempt to move on with your life? She was just a baby, only fifteen years old.”</p>
<p>“And then there’s Sally Holt. God, I mean, could you even imagine? She’s lost everything.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Disappearance of Katie Holt

Day Zero – June 4, 20XX:  

 

The day the news breaks, the day that forever changes Katie Holt’s life, she can only recall two things: The announcement on the news, and the knock on the door.

 

Everything else is a blur. Nonessential material forgotten at a moment’s notice. The Two Things, however, Katie can recall with pinpoint precision. Crystal clear, jagged and sharp.

 

It begins when she receives a text alert, _Breaking News: Kerberos Mission Failure._ She stares at her phone, not understanding as dread begins to fill her. Getting up, Katie runs down the hall, making it half way down the stairs when she sees the television already on. Her mom is as still as a statue, watching the new anchor announce the crew to the Kerberos Mission is missing.

 

“Believed to be dead,” the woman on the screen announces blandly as if the people aboard the shuttle are just cargo, cold and unfeeling. Not flesh and blood, and bad jokes and laughter. Katie bites her lip, hating the woman broadcasting the news. This can’t be true; this can’t be right.

 

And when the woman announces the cause of the mission failure being due to pilot error, Katie _knows_ something is wrong. How can they already know? How have they already decided? Her eyes narrow. The time delay from the _Persephone_ shuttle to Earth is twenty minutes. If this was breaking news, then surely they couldn’t know much, right? Maybe they were just speculating?

 

Katie isn’t sure, but she hates the news anchor all the more. She hates the woman who is still talking, who probably has no idea what the purpose of the mission even _is_ , let alone who the people aboard are.

 

_(Were)._

 

The television blurs to incandescent light as tears threaten to overwhelm her. She wants to yell, to scream, to do _something_. But Katie finds her voice is gone.

 

The knock on the door startles it out of her.

 

A meek whimper, not at all like the out-going, outspoken girl most people know Katie Holt to be.

 

Her mom turns to look at her then, and any comfort or reassurance Katie might have felt from the older woman leaves as she sees the look of anguish on her face.

 

Neither one says anything. But for that brief moment, Katie finds herself on equal standing with the woman across the room. For that brief moment, the roles of mother and daughter are obliterated leaving two women filled with sorrow in their place.

 

Katie Holt’s childhood comes to an abrupt end that day.

 

…

 

The day the news breaks, Sally Holt is in shock. This isn’t possible.

 

This. _Cant’._ Be possible. Surely, this is some sick joke or, or …

 

She’s not sure what, but it isn’t right. It doesn’t make sense. There should have been more warning, something.

 

The newscaster finishes the announcement, “… sad day for humanity,” her tone of voice low to convey the seriousness of the situation. Already, Sally can feel the numbness sinking in, settling into her bones. Cold, far colder than the deep of space that has taken her husband and her child.

 

_My god,_ she thinks. _Do the other families know?_  

 

Or have they all found out through some news alert like some faceless civilian, who doesn’t know the crew as family, doesn’t know their full names, their nicknames, their likes and dislikes. _This can’t be real._

 

But the knock on the door confirms all her fears. Sally hears a slight whimper behind her.

 

_Katie_.

 

She must have heard the entire thing. Sally turns and for a brief moment, they make eye contact. She see the tears welling up in her daughter’s eyes as she clings to the stairwell.

 

Sally feels her own tears sliding down her face and for a moment time stops. There is only Sally Holt and her daughter, and this THING in the room with them. Circling around them, faster and faster, ready to choke the remaining life out of the room.

 

And during that moment Sally looks to her daughter, who has her husband’s eyes and her husband’s smile and that same spark, that curiosity, that first made her take notice of Samuel Holt.

 

For that brief moment, she looks to her daughter and thinks, _what do I do?_

 

_(She can't breathe)._

 

A knock on the door again, and time resumes. Katie jumps, blinking tears away; still not quite sure what to do. Open the door or run up the stairs? Sally can see the gears turning in her daughter’s head, analyzing each option; but for the first time Sally can remember, she sees doubt, uncertainty on her daughter’s face. _That,_ Sally thinks, _is unacceptable._

 

“Katie,” she says looking to her daughter, “Go to the kitchen and get some drinks ready.”

 

Katie jumps to the task, needing something she can do on autopilot and delay thinking about anything.

 

Sally stands, smooths her dress and walks calmly to the door. She pauses by the mirror, wipes her face and takes a deep breath.

 

She feels lost. A feeling that is both foreign and unwelcome.

 

She shakes herself, forces herself to stand up straight. Sally doesn’t know what has happened to her family, but she will be damned if anyone sees her as some fragile housewife. Not when Victor Iverson is on the other side, not when that man can smell vulnerability like a vulture smells carrion.

 

No. Now is not the time to be weak, now is not the time for tears.

 

Sally must be strong. For herself, but most especially for her daughter.

 

Sally opens the door.

 

“Please, come in.”

 

...

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> So. This has been bouncing around in my head for a while. Please be patient while I try to figure everything out (I'm more of a one-shot kinda gal, not a multi-parter mad woman). 
> 
> \---
> 
> Mama Holt is named after Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.  
> I've decided to name the shuttle, Persephone, since its headed to Kerberos, which is a moon of Pluto. *coughgreekmythyaycough*  
> And I've decided to gift Iverson the first name of Victor.


End file.
